I have to admit that I’ve lagged on making this post. I originally began writing after my first official “meet-n-greet” with a group of my fellow ESADE classmates, but suddenly the momentum just picked me up and here I am not only past introduction week, but one week into the pre-term! I apologize for this delay, but allow me a second to try to bring you up to speed.

First off, I have had to initiate very few introductions since my arrival, as I have lost count of the great number of not only classmates, but also faculty who have approached me and said, “Hey! You’re that guy from the video!” Oh dear, what have I done? Haha, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like the attention, but man, I never expected such a response. At least everyone who has approached me has really liked it, so I suppose it’s a good thing.

My first impression of my classmates has been much like my first impression of the alumni I’ve met: very good! Everyone is super cool, down to earth and the class seems to be extremely diverse – which is exactly what I was looking for. The class is composed of 118 students representing 36 different countries and a potpourri of professional backgrounds. I can already tell I’m going to learn a lot from my cohort!

Since my arrival, I’ve successfully opened a bank account, got a cell phone, acquainted myself with the city a little, tried lots of new food and had a jolly good tyme with a lot of my new friends. I’ve made an effort to practice my Spanish, but I’ve been a tad discouraged when I walk into places and begin talking to someone and they immediately switch to English. I don’t know if they think they’re doing me a favor, but it kinda smarts knowing I must be that bad…but hey, I’m here to learn, and learn I will!

Introduction week was a blast for the most part. It was loaded with informational meetings and the highlight was our teambuilding trip up into the mountains about an hour outside of Barcelona. We got to participate in a few teambuilding exercises that were often extremely difficult, but overall a wonderful experience. (I’m still working on getting some pictures up, but I’ll make another post about the “El Montanya” retreat complete with pictures soon.)

Now we have just finished our first week of pre-term classes and, my goodness, it has been something! We all knew we would be busy when things got underway. I had been told by anyone and everyone that I’d have no life for the next 18 months, and I believed it. I also acknowledged that while I may accept this fate (afterall, I am paying good money for this!), I knew that until I got here it would be difficult to say I truly knew what I was getting myself into…I think I’m starting to understand.

Week one exposed us to financial accounting, economics, managerial statistics, business law, and information technologies. Nothing I haven’t seen before, but the demanding nature of each course really takes its toll. Classes run from 8:00am until 5:30pm and my typical day has me leaving my apartment before the sun rises and not stepping foot out of the school until after the sun has set…but even then, once I get back to the apartment there are still things to read and individual work to do. Today is Saturday and I was working on homework for statistics and accounting from 2:00pm until just past 9:00pm…yes, Saturday, and I still have more to do tomorrow to prepare for Monday. On top of all the class work, we have a leadership and development class to prepare 11 assignments for by the 15th in addition to resume editing and meetings with career services…again, this is week one!!!

So yeah, I’m a little busy these days, and while I’m absolutely ecstatic that Blanca is finally here, I’m hoping that she will find ample things to do to keep herself busy as I’m out trying to keep my sanity. I must say, I’ve always respected the MBA, but in one week’s time that respect has increased quite a bit and I have a strong feeling that level of respect will only move higher. I don’t know if other programs are this intense, but I would imagine that this is quite necessary considering it is an 18-month program versus the traditional two years. Maybe I’m speaking too soon on all this, cause in all likelihood I haven’t seen anything yet, but hey, I gotta vent sometime!

In my future posts I’m going to try to share a little about my experiences with my fellow students and the things I’ve been learning outside of the classroom. If anyone has questions or post recommendations I’d love to hear them. Otherwise, I’m just going to do this at my own pace and address things I choose to share when I feel inspired. With that, I suppose I will say hasta luego for now.

“Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” – Anonymous

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